1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a means for trapping crawfish, and more particularly, to a crawfish trap characterized by a pair of wire frames carrying flexible, open mesh netting, and is generally shaped in the form of a truncated pyramid. The frames are equipped with a frame loop and hook, respectively, which may be disengaged to permit collapse and folding into a storage configuration. When the frame hook and loop are in engagement, the netting carried by the frame members covers the bottom and a substantial portion of the side area of the frames, leaving a top segment open for entry and collection of the crawfish. The crawfish trap is also fitted with a float and line attached to one of the frame members in order to permit the trap to be completely submerged in a body of water and easily located and removed from the water for convenient collection of the crawfish trapped in the net. The pyramid shape of the trap and the location of the opening beneath the top portions of the frame members permits the crawfish to readily enter the trap but makes it very difficult for them to exit the trap until collection is desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, various traps for crabs, lobsters, crawfish and the like have been known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,645 to F. P. Ward, et al., discloses a lobster trap formed of a heavy bottom frame with metal bands extending between opposite sides of the frame, and having a wire screen covering the bottom and sides of the trap and an opening provided in the top for entry of the lobsters. Bait is placed in the trap and the trap is then submerged in a water body, whereupon lobsters are permitted to crawl up the sides of the trap and through the opening in the top to reach the bait. Trap doors are also provided in order to permit exit of the smaller lobsters and retention of the larger lobsters in the interior of the trap.
Another lobster trap is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,804 to Dominick J. Senese, which trap consists of a four sided container having open mesh net material on the bottom, sides, and top thereof, and an opening in the top to permit entry of the lobster. The top is secured in closed position by means of a cross pin that is soluble in water to permit release of the top after a predetermined period of submersion in the event the lobster trap is lost, to permit entrapped lobsters to escape.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,320 to C. S. Wells describes a crab trap which is characterized by a generally truncated pyramid having mesh sides and bottom, and a top member provided with a plastic shield having a substantially horizontal surface surrounding a downwardly sloping, circular tunnel for entry of the crabs. The shield is formed of a low friction plastic to prevent the crabs from climbing back out of the trap through the entrance tunnel.
While lobster and crab traps are used primarily on the Atlantic coast in a thriving lobster and crab industry, such traps are rarely used in the South and in other areas of the United States for trapping crabs in warm Gulf waters. Furthermore, in the deep South where crawfish are considered to be a delicacy, such traps are almost unknown for taking these crustaceans, the preferred technique for capturing crawfish being the use of seines, barrel-shaped wire mesh commercial traps and crawfish nets of simple construction.
One of the most popular methods used by sportsmen for capturing crawfish is by use of a crawfish net of the design illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of applicant's drawings. Such nets generally consist of a pair of wire frame members carrying an open mesh net at the bottom terminal ends thereof, and are capable of being folded for storage, and selectively opened to spread the net and provide a means for capturing crawfish, as described hereinafter. Conventional crawfish nets such as the one illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are characterized by inefficiency, in that the net area, which is designed without sidewall areas, frequently permits large numbers of crawfish to escape when the frame is touched and the net is lifted from the water. Furthermore, those nets known in the prior art which are characterized by both bottom and side netting or mesh, are frequently designed such that removal of crawfish would be difficult since these traps generally have a top piece fitted with an opening of varying design which readily permits crabs or lobsters to enter but makes extraction of larger numbers of the smaller crawfish somewhat difficult. Furthermore, many of the conventional traps which are designed with both bottom and sidewall netting and stiff frame members are not designed to be folded and readily positioned in a convenient stored configuration, thereby requiring substantial storage room and space.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved crawfish trap which is characterized by a pair of wire frame members capable of being disengaged and folded when not in use, and carrying an open mesh net material which covers the bottom and a portion of the side areas of the frame members when the frame members are engaged and positioned in functional configuration.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a crawfish trap which is capable of being selectively folded and stored, and subsequently opened and used in the shape of a generally truncated pyramid to trap crawfish.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved collapsible crawfish trap which is characterized by a pair of wire frame members, one of which members is fitted with a loop and the other of which carrys a cooperating hook, which hook and loop can be removably fitted together to form a generally truncated pyramid, and which wire frame members also carry an open mesh netting on a portion of the sides and on the bottom thereof to permit crawfish to enter an open area near the top of the frame but which retards exiting of the crawfish from the netting once they are inside the trap.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a folding crawfish trap which is characterized by a pair of wire frame members and an open mesh netting, which frame members selectively cooperate in engagement to form a generally truncated pyramid when the trap is in functional configuration, which trap is further characterized in one embodiment by a bait pocket formed in the bottom netting thereof for isolating the bait from contact with the crawfish entering the trap to slow consumption of the bait by entrapped crawfish.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved folding crawfish trap which is characterized by a pair of cooperating frame members and flexible, open mesh netting, which trap is fitted with an opening in the top thereof to permit crawfish to enter and is also provided with a mesh bait pocket for enclosing the bait to prevent the crawfish from consuming the bait.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved crawfish trap having a pair of wire frame members, one of which frame members carries a hook and the other of which includes a cooperating loop to permit the frame members to be folded against each other for storing in one configuration, and hooked together and spread for positioning in another functional configuration, which frame members also carry a flexible, open mesh netting across the bottom and on a portion of the sides thereof characterized by an opening in the top thereof beneath the loop and hook of the frame members and disposed in substantially parallel relationship to the bottom of the trap, to permit entry of crawfish, the trap also including a mesh bait pocket secured to the bottom segment of the netting by means of removable fasteners to encapsulate the bait and slow consumption of the bait by crawfish which enter the trap.